Investments
This area of financial planning is often one about which people can feel nervous, but it need not be so.
For the inexperienced investor, it could be the first time they have had a significant sum of money. Perhaps they have had an inheritance. Maybe it is a lump sum from their pension, or possibly an insurance claim payout. It could even be a lottery win!
Even for the more experienced investor, it may be an anxious time when considering where to invest -especially if markets are falling.
Our approach is to firstly explain a little bit about the investment world and how it works, without expecting you to become overnight experts. We feel it is important that you have some understanding about how savings and investments fit together, where they sit on a risk / reward scale, and in which areas it might be appropriate for you yourself to invest your money.
Of course, we don't leave you to make that decision alone -remember, we give a full advice and recommendation service.
Regardless of your experience of investments, one of the first things we will do is ask you to complete what we call an 'attitude-to-risk' profiler. Sometimes we send this to you before our appointment; sometimes we will be there with you -it depends on the time-frame. From this we will be able to get a feel for the kind of person you are when it comes to making investment decisions. (This isn't set in stone, but helps us have a starting point for our discussions.)
One of the first things we would consider is whether you had any debts which it might be better to settle first, before then looking at potentially investing some of the rest.
Next, we would need to establish a time frame. Can some of your capital be left for at least five years? If you will need to use all your money within that time (apart from taking a regular, deliberate income), then we will have to recommend that you keep all of it in 'cash' areas (by which we mean on deposit in a savings account of some sort). We will, unfortunately, be unable to help you further in the investment world.
(If this is the case we recommend you place your money in one or more major banks or building societies, in a collection of immediate-access and notice accounts, depending on the amount you have in savings. Thought should also to be given to utilizing any unused ISA allowance each year. You might also want to consider looking into National Savings & Investments -see their weblink from the 'links' tab- but be sure not to take up anything which ties in your money for a lengthy period.)
If you are happy to leave at least some of your capital for five years plus, then we can look at investment opportunities for you.
If you've already started looking into the investment world yourself, you will realize that there is an absolute plethora in the market place, so we won't attempt to go through them here. What we will do is tell you that there is an investment out there which will suit your circumstances and your particular risk profile. Whether that is a something like a Unit / Investment Trust, or an Insurance Bond; whether it is actually tied up for a period or you can get your money out at any time; whether it is a product which guarantees your capital or one which allows you access to the full growth potential of the market we are confident will be able to find and recommend the product which most suits your needs. We will also be mindful of your tax position when we do this -not just now, but at the time you will need your money.
What we also do is look to using some of the expertise available in the market itself. No financial adviser can truly claim to be an expert on the markets -companies employ people to do that kind of thing as a full-time job. The value in dealing with us is that we can help you through the minefield of providers and link you up with the people who are the experts.
There are three things you can invest for: growth, income, or a combination of the two. We will help you with this too.